Bag means for collecting breathing and rebreathing air samples



A. F. FARR 3,426,745

BAG MEANS FOR COLLECTING BREATHING AND REBREATHING AIR SAMPLES Feb. 11,1969 Filed March 27, 1967 v /NVNTO/ ANQREW E FARR A FOP/V5) UnitedStates Patent 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A pliablegas-impervious bag having a two-way nonrestrictive valve, including amouthpiece, by means of which samples of air from free breathing andrebreathing of a person may be collected for analysis. The device islight-weight for portability, and of low cost to permit discarding afterone use.

Cross-references to related applications This application is acontinuation-impart of my pending application for patent, Ser. No.295,058, filed July 15, 1963 now abandoned, in which claims to aspecific valve member per se were divided out.

Background 0 the invention The invention relates to apparatus for thecollection of breath samples for clinical examination.

The apparatus for the collection of breath samples which has heretoforebeen available, has been found to be inadequate for diagnostic uses inpresent-day medical practice because of their overall weight and cost,precluding single use and discarding, and because the valving units arerestrictive during change, producing back pressure on the patientsbreathing. Further, the bags have not been made from gas-impermeablematerials, nor from materials free from noxious orders or vapors, norhaving a pliable character which does not collapse and yet does notresist filling by breathing into bags made therefrom.

Summary of the invention The principal object of this invention is toprovide an inexpensive, portable, light-weight breath collection meansincluding a nonrestrictive two-way piston valve having an integralmouthpiece for use by a patient, the valve permitting easy change fromfree breathing to the atmosphere to breathing into a plastic collectionbag, and the bag being of composition, size, pliability, impermeabilityto gas, freedom from harmful vapors, and of a suitable surface andtexture to receive the breath sample with only slight back pressure, andto retain the gas unchanged until samples thereof are withdrawn as froman exit valve for chemical and clinical analysis. It is intended thatthe device be used one time or for a single patient and be thendiscarded.

Claims are also directed to the nonrestrictive valve 3,426,745 PatentedFeb. 11, 1969 structure per se because of the advantages of its use withother equipment.

Brief description of the drawing FIG. 1 is a perspective view of apreferred form of breath collecting bag means including a nonrestrictivepiston mouthpiece valve, and an exit valve;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary side elevational view of the device shown inFIG. 1, with parts broken away to show the piston valve in full openposition to the bag;

FIG. 3 is a top view of the same showing the piston valve in position toclose off the bag and permit air entering by the mouthpiece to flow toatmosphere around the piston stem;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line 44 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line 55 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary side-elevational view partly in section showingthe exit valve in the bag;

FIG. 7 is a side elevational view partly in section showing analternative form of a quick change, nonrestrictive piston valve; and

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line 88 of FIG. 7.

Description 0 preferred embodiments Referring to the drawings, apreferred form of the breath collection bag means of this invention isshown in FIGS. 1 to 6, and an alternative form of a quick-changenonrestrictive piston valve is shown in FIGS. 7 and 8.

The breath collection bag means consists of a pliable bag 11 which isprovided with an intake valve 12 and an exit valve 13. The pliable bag11 consists of two thin synthetic plastic sheets 14 and 15 of pliableand only slightly elastic sheet material which are joined at thecontiguous edges by a welded seam 16. An opening or neck 17 is formed inone corner of the bag for attachment around the orifice 18 of the intakevalve body 19, a bead 20 on the outside of the body 19 and an adhesiveband 21 being provided to secure the connection between the bag neck 17and the valve body.

The intake valve 12 is fabricated from molded synthetic resin parts andconsists of the cylindrical body 19 which has a mouthpiece 22 extendingoutwardly from the central portion of the body, the mouthpiecepreferably being elliptical in cross-section. A piston 23 is slidablymounted within the body 19, having terminal positions on either side ofthe mouthpiece opening, so that when the piston 23 is in its positionnearest the orifice 18, the bag 11 is closed off from the mouthpiece 22(FIG. 3) and when the piston 23 is at its outermost position themouthpiece 22 communicates without restriction with the bag 11 (FIG. 2).A piston rod or stem 24 having an H cross-sectional shape (FIG. 4) isattached at one end to the piston 23 and at the other end there isprovided an end disk 25, which serves as a finger grip means in themanual operation of the valve. A guide bar 26, of T shape incrosssection, extends endwise from the valve body 19, parallel to thepiston stem 24, being attached adjacent the mouthpiece 22. The end disk25 on the piston stem 24 is notched as at 27 so that it engages thecross bar 28 of the T guide bar 26, thereby keeping the piston in properalignment during its operation. An outer stop means 29 is provided onthe guide bar 26 at its outer end to keep the piston within the valvebody, and an inner stop means 30 is provided on the guide bar to stopthe inward movement of the piston and stem when the piston has closedoff the communication between the mouthpiece and the bag. The outer stopmeans 29 is preferably in the form of a fiat end disk which also servesfor the thumb back pressure when the valve is being opened by theoperators fingers. For a similar purpose in moving the piston rod andpiston inwardly, wing tabs 31 are provided integrally at the outer endof the valve body 19, and in this movement of the valve, thumb backpressure is applied on the end disk 25 on the piston rod 24.

The alternative nonrestrictive valve 12a shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 consistsof a cylindrical body 19a having a side tubular mouthpiece 22a. A piston23a is slidably fitted by means of sealing rings 32 to the inside wallsof the body 19a, and is movable by means of the piston rod 24a whichconsists of longitudinally disposed crossed fins 33 which form a rigidstem and keep the piston 23a aligned axially in the cylindrical openingin the body 19a, and yet allows free air flow out of the cylinder aroundthe fins 33. An end disk 25a serves as handle means for the manualoperation of the piston. The mouthpiece 22a is disposed so that thepiston 23:: may be positioned in the cylinder on either side thereof, togive unrestricted flow of air from the mouthpiece, either to theatmosphere, or alternatively to a bag 11a connected to the valve body.An inner stop means 30a is provided on the portion of 19a that extendswithin bag 11a, and the extent of inward movement of piston 23:: isdefined by the abutting of rings 32 against stop means 30a, as shown inFIG. 7.

In both the preferred and the alternate forms of the piston valve, theopening the mouthpiece at its connection with the cylindrical valve bodyis not substantially less than the cross-sectional area of the exhaustair channels around the piston rods, so that there is no back pressurewhen the breathing into the valve passes to the atmosphere.- In generalthe cross-sectional area of the piston rod is not more than about tenpercent of the crosssectional area of the body cavity.

The exit valve 13 (shown particularly in FIG. 6) consists of arelatively small synthetic resin tubular body 36 in which is disposed,across the opening therein, a diaphragm 37 of needle-puncturableself-sealing synthetic plastic material. The valve body is fitted intoan opening in the seam 16 of the bag 11, and is preferably sealedthereto by electronic welding. To remove a sample of the gas from thebag, a hypodermic needle with attached syringe is pushed through thediaphragm and the desired gas sample drawn into the syringe. Thediaphragm is substantially self-sealing when the puncturing needle iswithdrawn.

The valve structures are made by plastic molding processes using styreneor similar plastic resin material, following the usual practice.

The collection bag is preferably made from polyvinyl chloride sheets(for example Ultron UL-40 produced by Monsanto Corporation). Thepreferred sheet material is approximately 0.006 inch in thickness and isfree from any noxious odors or surface particles which might be releasedin use. The sheets are preferably jointed at the edges by electronicwelding. The bag is shaped so that it does not collapse at the neck andshut off the entry of the patients breath, either when breathing or whenbeing used in the rebreathing procedure. The bag preferably is made tocontain about 4 liters of gas without appreciable back-pressure.

I claim:

1. A breath collection device adapted for single use and discardingcomprising,

(a) a pliable gas-impervious bag having an intake opening formedthereon,

(b) a nonrestrictive intake piston valve secured to said intake opening,said val e i cl ding (1) a body having a cavity of uniform dimensionsextending therethrough with one end thereof opening into said bag andthe opposite end thereof communicating with the atmosphere,

(2) an integral mouthpiece attached to said body at an intermediateposition along its length,

(3) a piston attached to a piston stern movable within said cavity toend positions on either side of said mouthpiece to establishcommunication between said mouthpiece and the atmosphere in one endposition and to establish communication between said mouthpiece and saidbag in the other end position,

(4) guide means integral with said valve body and extending parallel tothe wall of said cavity, and

(5) coacting means formed on said piston stem for cooperation with saidguide means to guide the movement of said piston stem parallel to saidcavity within said body.

2. The breath collection devices as defined in claim 1 wherein thecoacting means on said piston stem comprises a disk secured to one endof said stem, said disk having a notch therein which slidably engagessaid guide means.

3. The breath collection device as defined in claim 1 wherein saidpiston stern has a cross-sectional area not exceeding more than tenpercent of the cross-sectional area of said body cavity.

4. The breath collection device as defined in claim 1 wherein said guidemeans comprises a T-shaped bar.

5. The breath collection device as defined in claim 1 wherein saidT-shaped bar has an outer stop means at the outermost end of the bar forlimiting the extent of outward movement of said piston and stem fromwithin said cavity.

6. The breath collection device as defined in claim 4 wherein saidT-shaped bar has an integral inner stop means provided thereon forlimiting the extent of inward movement of said piston and stem withinsaid cavity.

7. The breath collection device as defined in claim 1 wherein said bagis provided with an exit valve disposed away from and independent ofsaid piston valve, said exit valve including a tubular member having aneedlepuncturable self-sealing member disposed thereon.

8. A breath collection device adapted for single use and discardingcomprising (a) a pliable, gas-impervious bag having an intake openingformed thereon,

(b) a nonrestrictive intake piston valve secured to said intake opening,said valve including (1) a body having a cavity of uniform dimensionsextending therethrough with one end thereof opening into said bag andthe opposite end thereof communicating with the atmosphere,

(2) an integral mouthpiece attached to said body at an intermediateposition along its length,

(3) a piston attached to a piston stem movable with said cavity to endpositions on either side side of said mouthpiece to establishcommunication between said mouthpiece and the atmosphere in one endposition and to establish communication between said mouthpiece and saidbag in the other end posilton,

(4) said piston stem consisting of integral crossed fins whose outeredges slidingly engage the walls of said cavity to guide the movement ofthe piston stem, and

(5) said valve body including stop means disposed adjacent at least oneend thereof on the wall defining said cavity, said stop means limitingthe extent of movement of said piston and said stem within said cavity.

5 6 References Cited OTHER REFERENCES UNITED STATES PATENTS Cooper, E.A., and Pask, E. A.: The Lancet (p. 369),

Feb. 13, 1960.

2,702,034 2/1955 Walter 128272 Peters, J. P., and Van Slyke, D. 1).;Quantitative 2,795,223 6/ 1957 Stampe 128-2 Clinical Chemistry, vol. 11,Methods, 1932, The Williams 2,867,511 1/1959 Harger 23254 5 and Wilkins00., Baltimore (pp. 174-175 relied on). 2,902,992 9/1959 Renvall128-145] 3 747 12/1963 Cowley 12 218 GAUDET, Przmary Examlner- 3,196,6897/1965 Forrester et a1. 73- 1-215 KYLE L, HOWELL, Assistant Examiner,3,303,840 2/1967 Etzlinger 1282 3,321,976 5/1967 Jones 73- 1215 103,338,087 8/1967 Moberg et a] 73-4215 73421.5; 128-2.07

